Before anyone reads this review, I would like to emphasize that I did read the entire story, and that this is my own personal opinion. I am writing this through the viewpoint of very, very high standards.

My final thoughts?

It was okay.

I'm sorry to say, but that there were many aspects in the writing that prevented me from perceiving the story any better. However, at the same time, the story as a whole IS better than many of the Hetalia fics that can be found. It just sadly, isn't what I would consider fantastic beacon of writing, or something really worth re-reading.

The biggest issues I personally found with the story was its pacing, the dialogue, and the execution.

The pacing at times felt rushed, events glossed over. There was no build-up to plot critical events, and the events that did happen felt empty, not very significant. When writing, you should try and pace things out better: slow down the pace when you're showing things like plot-heavy events, dramatic moments, and cool-down after a particularly tense and action-filled moment. The action also feels a bit clunky, but fight scenes are always one of the most difficult things in writing, so don't feel too bad about that.

The only real complaint I have, which is very personal mind, is the use of the vocal tics and "". It broke my immersion into the story, and made characters like South Korea and China less authentic, and more like caricatures. I understand that they speak like this in the original manga and the Japanese version of the anime, but there's a reason why official dubs of any Japanese anime doesn't use vocal tics: They sound tacked-on in English, and completely unlike how a normal human being would speak English.

The execution, is what in the end, made my review a fairly negative one. Everything feels glossed over, like broad strokes. We never /really/ see the individual actions that made the war, WAR. Yes, countries did point rifles at each other, they trained each other, negotiated with each other. But it doesn't feel like a proxy war, just individuals squabbling. Maybe I'm alone here, but diving face-first into the politics of the Cold War that allowed the Vietnam War happen, the conflict of ideology and interests between the Soviet Union and the United Stated, and the human cost of it all; don't you think that might have been interesting?

My point is that there was so much detail and potential involved that really could have been explored, but the story only scratched the surface. Broad strokes, like I said.

(A minor nitpik here is that the M16A1 rifle, the assault rifle used by the US Military during the Vietnam war, does not sound like BANG! BANG! BANG! when fired. It's a much more high-pitched, poppier sound. More like a Pap! Pap! Pap! sound.)

Do I have anything positive to say here? I do. I really do appreciate how you did show South Korea's participation in the war, and showed how effective the ROK Marines were. I also liked how you showed that North Vietnam wasn't a bad person, and that kind of shades of grey is something I do appreciate. America's characterization was really nice too, and I liked seeing the war's toll on Australia and South Korea.

At the end, the writing failed to hook me into the story, and failed to keep me attached. Although this may be affected by my current sleepy state, I wasn't particularly blown away by the story. It's good, it's decent and definitely better than a lot of fanfics you can find on this site...but at the same time, there are better fanfics out there. This story is a worth-while read, but if you're looking for something deep, this isn't the story for you.

(Final Note: The way Australia seemed traumatized by the events of the war reminds me of the Cold Chisel song "Khe Sanh".)

Anon chapter 2 . 5/14/2013

Very well written! I love it!3 Just a small note: Australia/New Zealand & South Korea were not the only nations to send troops to 'Nam; Thailand and the Philippines were also obliged to send soldiers as a part of their SEATO treaty (aka the 'Manila Pact') with the U.S. (so if you could maybe add something in about that, that would be awesome!)

That was so sad I swear I was bawling my eyes out while reading the bit where North shot South. It's really well written and I'm doing Vietnam at the moment in school so it was also really informative too. I'm just going to go and cry some more now, okay? BUt yeah it was really good.

Cuba actually got involved in the Vietnam War too; he had helped North Vietnam a lot. I apologise if I have offended you, I just felt the need to point it out (I'm a fan of Vietnam x Cuba because of it )